Fresh Pasta, Made Simply

The myth that you need to be an Italian grandmother to make great pasta was so ingrained in Anna Klinger that when she went to Italy as a young cook to study the craft, she assumed it would take years to master.

“I thought that making pasta was this daunting, messy undertaking that would leave you and your kitchen covered in flour and egg from top to bottom,” said Ms. Klinger, who is now the chef and a co-owner of Al Di La, Bar Corvo and Lincoln Station in Brooklyn.

The biggest surprise when she got to Italy was that making pasta from scratch is so simple and straightforward that there’s barely any learning curve.

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“Once you make it a couple of times, you’ve got it,” she said.

And contrary to some other pasta myths out there, you don’t need to buy any special equipment or clear your schedule for an entire day to make it, either.

Even tonight, you can throw together a bowl of pappardelle for your family or a friend with nothing more than your hands, a rolling pin and some basic ingredients that you probably already have (eggs, flour, salt and maybe olive oil). And it will take you less than an hour of active time to do so.

The payoff is tremendous. Fresh pasta has a beautifully silky yet springy texture and a rich, almost buttery egg-yolk flavor that is far better than anything you can buy — even the first time you make it.

My first attempt at pappardelle, though slightly lumpy and a little frayed at the edges, still boiled up into a gorgeous and satisfying pot of noodles. Subsequent batches got silkier and finer in texture and were easier and quicker to mix together. But the difference in taste between that first, tentative try and my most recent is small.

The most difficult part about making pasta is having the confidence not to follow the recipe.

The basic pasta rule of thumb is to use one egg for every 100 grams of flour. But the exact proportions of ingredients will vary depending upon the humidity in the room, the age of the flour and the time of year, so you need to pay attention to the dough and let your instincts guide you.

In her encyclopedic cookbook, “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” the ever-precise Marcella Hazan — whose pasta dough recipe takes six pages to get through — called for mixing the ingredients in a mound directly on the tabletop to maintain the greatest control.

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“Because no one can tell in advance exactly how much flour one needs,” she wrote, “the sensible method of combining eggs and flour is by hand, which permits you to adjust the proportions of flour as you go along.”

For example, Ms. Klinger explained: “In the winter, when your skin is dry, you know your pasta will be dry, too, so you’ll need to use a bit less flour. In the hot and sticky summer, you might need a little more flour to make it all come together.”

Some cooks add water, olive oil and salt to the flour and egg. The Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri, whose new book, “Mastering Pasta,” goes deep into the art and science of pasta making, said that playing with these different components allows you to fine-tune the pasta according to your own taste.

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“You can just mix up some eggs and flour, and you’re going to make a really nice noodle,” he said. “But once you start to understand how the egg works, how the flour works, when to add oil, you can manipulate the textures and flavors. That’s when it starts to get really fun.”

For example, although you can actually make pasta from nothing more than flour and water, the egg adds flavor, protein and fat, which makes the dough easier to work and enriches the taste.

Pasta dough made with all yolks is the richest, but it can also be very soft. The water and protein in the egg white make the dough easier to work with, and also give pasta a bit more chew.

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CreditAndrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Olive oil adds fat and flavor, and makes the dough more supple and easier to roll out. A little bit of added water can help correct the texture of the dough, making a dry dough softer, though if you add too much, you risk mushy noodles that are prone to sticking to one another. And the salt adds flavor and helps to strengthen the gluten in the flour, contributing structure and elasticity.

In terms of flour, the “00” flour used in Italy for pasta is milled until it’s baby-powder fine, making for an especially delicate noodle. But all-purpose flour works nearly as well, and the differences in the pasta, once covered in grated Parmigiano and some butter, is barely noticeable.

Bread flour will give you a slightly coarser pasta. But since its higher protein content increases the elasticity of the dough, it is sometimes nice to use when you want a springier, thicker noodle to stand up to, say, a spicy arrabbiata sauce.

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Ms. Klinger and her chef de cuisine, Felipe Rodriguez, mix the dough for all of the half-dozen or so varieties of pasta on the Al Di La menu (including sweet pea tortelli, ricotta lemon ravioli and pappardelle with ramp greens and duck ragù) in a big bowl with one hand.

But you could use an electric mixer instead, as Mr. Vetri does at his restaurants to keep up with the volume demanded by over 100 seats, versus Ms. Klinger’s 65.

I prefer using a food processor fitted with the metal blade, which is the fastest of the lot, though you do need to keep a close watch on the dough to make sure you get the right consistency. The dough should come together when you press it in your hand — evenly moist but not wet or sticky.

Once kneaded into a ball, it should be smooth as satin, according to Ms. Hazan — moist and elastic.

Jenn Louis, the chef and a co-owner of the restaurants Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern in Portland, Ore., and the author of the new book “Pasta by Hand,” said that at that point it is crucial to let the dough sit for at least 30 minutes. “Letting the dough rest hydrates the flour, which then gets even more hydrated when you roll it out, and those water molecules get pushed into every nook and cranny,” she explained. This makes the dough easier to roll out into a gossamer sheet and then cut into shapes, like pappardelle, fettuccine, linguine, ravioli.

And as for the rolling, a rolling pin works well, though it does take some muscle to make the dough thin enough. Use a large, lightly floured work surface (a kitchen table is perfect) and don’t be afraid to throw your weight onto it, unlike what you would do with a flaky pie pastry.

But even the exacting Ms. Hazan gives her blessing to using a pasta machine to thin out the dough, and it is much easier, at least for the novice. Mr. Vetri recommends an electric rather than a hand-cranked one because it leaves both your hands free for feeding the dough in between the rollers. Or enlist a friend to crank while you feed the dough through, or vice versa.

Then boil up your yellow noodles and serve them to that friend. They won’t need much beyond a little grated cheese, olive oil or butter, and flaky sea salt. But they will be the most luxurious meal for all who partake.

Correction:May 8, 2015

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of one of Jenn Louis’s restaurants. It is Lincoln, not Franklin.

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